The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

R >> Richard F. Burton >> The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 4

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'All sons of woman, albe long preserved, * Are borne upon the
bulging bier some day.[FN#84]
How then shall 'joy man joy or taste delight, * Upon whose cheeks
shall rest the dust and clay?'"

When the Caliph had made an end of condoling with him, he charged
him not to absent himself from the Divan and returned to his
palace. And Ala Al-Din, after a last sorrowful night, mounted
early in the morning and, riding to the court, kissed the ground
before the Commander of the Faithful who made a movement if
rising from the throne[FN#85] to greet and welcome him; and bade
him take his appointed place in the Divan, saying, "O Ala al-Din,
thou art my guest to-night." So presently he carried him into his
serraglio and calling a slave-girl named Kut al-Kulub, said to
her, "Ala al-Din had a wife called Zubaydah, who used to sing to
him and solace him of cark and care; but she is gone to the mercy
of Almighty Allah, and now I would have thee play him an air upon
the lute,"--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased
saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-first Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
said to the damsel Kut al-Kulub, "I would have thee play him upon
the lute an air, of fashion sweet and rare, that he may be
solaced of his cark and care." So she rose and made sweet music;
and the Caliph said to Ala al-Din, "What sayst thou of this
damsel's voice?" He replied, "Verily, O Commander of the
Faithful, Zubaydah's voice was the finer; but she is skilled in
touching the lute cunningly and her playing would make a rock
dance with glee." The Caliph asked, "Doth she please thee?'' and
he answered, "She doth, O Commander of the Faithful;" whereupon
the King said, "By the life of my head and the tombs of my
forefathers, she is a gift from me to thee, she and her waiting-
women!" Ala al-Din fancied that the Caliph was jesting with him;
but, on the morrow, the King went in to Kut al-Kulub and said to
her, "I have given thee to Ala Al-Din, whereat she rejoiced, for
she had seen and loved him. Then the Caliph returned from his
serraglio palace to the Divan; and, calling porters, said to
them, "Set all the goods of Kut al-Kulub and her waiting-women in
a litter, and carry them to Ala al-Din's home." So they conducted
her to the house and showed her into the pavilion, whilst the
Caliph sat in the hall of audience till the dose of day, when the
Divan broke up and he retired to his harem. Such was his case;
but as regards Kut al-Kulub, when she had taken up her lodging in
Ala al-Din's mansion, she and her women, forty in all, besides
the eunuchry, she called two of these caponised slaves and said
to them, "Sit ye on stools, one on the right and another on the
left hand of the door; and, when Ala al-Din cometh home, both of
you kiss his hands and say to him, "Our mistress Kut al-Kulub
requesteth thy presence in the pavilion, for the Caliph hath
given her to thee, her and her women." They answered, "We hear
and obey;" and did as she bade them. So, when Ala al-Din
returned, he found two of the Caliph's eunuchs sitting at the
door and was amazed at the matter and said to himself, "Surely,
this is not my own house; or else what can have happened?" Now
when the eunuchs saw him, they rose to him and, kissing his
hands, said to him, "We are of the Caliph's household and slaves
to Kut al-Kulub, who saluteth thee, giving thee to know that the
Caliph hath bestowed her on thee, her and her women, and
requesteth thy presence." Quoth Ala al-Din, "Say ye to her, 'Thou
art welcome; but so long as thou shalt abide with me, I will not
enter the pavilion wherein thou art, for what was the master's
should not become the man's;' and furthermore ask her, 'What was
the sum of thy day's expenditure in the Caliph's palace?'" So
they went in and did his errand to her, and she answered, "An
hundred dinars a day;" whereupon quoth he to himself, "There was
no need for the Caliph to give me Kut al-Kulub, that I should be
put to such expense for her; but there is no help for it." So she
abode with him awhile and he assigned her daily an hundred dinars
for her maintenance; till, one day, he absented himself from the
Divan and the Caliph said to Ja'afar, "O Watir, I gave not Kut
al-Kulub unto Ala al-Din but that she might console him for his
wife; why, then, doth he still hold aloof from us?" Answered
Ja'afar, "O Commander of the Faithful, he spake sooth who said,
'Whoso findeth his fere, forgetteth his friends.'" Rejoined the
Caliph, "Haply he hath not absented himself without excuse, but
we will pay him a visit." Now some days before this, Ala al-Din
had said to Ja'afar, "I complained to the Caliph of my grief and
mourning for the loss of my wife Zubaydah and he gave me Kut
al-Kulub;" and the Minister replied, "Except he loved thee, he
had not given her to thee. Say hast thou gone in unto her, O Ala
al-Din?" He rejoined, "No, by Allah! I know not her length from
her breadth." He asked "And why?" and he answered, "O Wazir, what
befitteth the lord befitteth not the liege." Then the Caliph and
Ja'afar disguised themselves and went privily to visit Ala
al-Din; but he knew them and rising to them kissed the hands of
the Caliph, who looked at him and saw signs of sorrow in his
face. So he said to him, "O Al-Din, whence cometh this sorrow
wherein I see thee? Hast thou not gone in unto Kut al-Kulub?" He
replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, what befitteth the lord
befitteth not the thrall. No, as yet I have not gone in to visit
her nor do I know her length from her breadth; so pray quit me of
her." Quoth the Caliph, "I would fain see her and question her of
her case;" and quoth Ala al-Din, "I hear and I obey, O Commander
of the Faithful." So the Caliph went in,--And Shahrazad perceived
the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-second Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Caliph
went in to Kut al-Kulub, who rose to him on sighting him and
kissed the ground between his hands; when he said to her, "Hath
Ala al-Din gone in unto thee?" and she answered, "No, O Commander
of the Faithful, I sent to bid him come, but he would not." So
the Caliph bade carry her back to the Harim and saying to Ala
Al-Din, "Do not absent thyself from us," returned to his palace.
Accordingly, next morning, Ala Al-Din, mounted and rode to the
Divan, where he took his seat as Chief of the Sixty. Presently
the Caliph ordered his treasurer to give the Wazir Ja'afar ten
thousand dinars and said when his order was obeyed, "I charge
thee to go down to the bazar where handmaidens are sold and buy
Ala Al-Din, a slave-girl with this sum." So in obedience to the
King, Ja'afar took Ala al-Din and went down with him to the
bazar. Now as chance would have it, that very day, the Emir
Khalid, whom the Caliph had made Governor of Baghdad, went down
to the market to buy a slave-girl for his son and the cause of
his going was that his wife, Khatun by name, had borne him a son
called Habzalam Bazazah,[FN#86] and the same was foul of favour
and had reached the age of twenty, without learning to mount
horse; albeit his father was brave and bold, a doughty rider
ready to plunge into the Sea of Darkness.[FN#87] And it happened
that on a certain night he had a dream which caused
nocturnal-pollution whereof he told his mother, who rejoiced and
said to his father, "I want to find him a wife, as he is now ripe
for wedlock." Quoth Khalid, "The fellow is so foul of favour and
withal-so rank of odour, so sordid and beastly that no woman
would take him as a gift." And she answered, "We will buy him a
slave-girl." So it befell, for the accomplishing of what Allah
Almighty had decreed, that on the same day, Ja'afar and Ala
al-Din, the Governor Khalid and his son went down to the market
and behold, they saw in the hands of a broker a beautiful girl,
lovely faced and of perfect shape, and the Wazir said to him, "O
broker, ask her owner if he will take a thousand dinars for her."
And as the broker passed by the Governor with the slave, Hahzalam
Bazazah cast at her one glance of the eyes which entailed for
himself one thousand sighs; and he fell in love with her and
passion got hold of him and he said, "O my father, buy me yonder
slave-girl." So the Emir called the broker, who brought the girl
to him, and asked her her name. She replied, "My name is
Jessamine;" and he said to Hahzalam Bazazah, "O my son, as she
please thee, do thou bid higher for her." Then he asked the
broker, "What hath been bidden for her?" and he replied, "A
thousand dinars." Said the Governor's son, "She is mine for a
thousand pieces of gold and one more;" and the broker passed on
to Ala al-Din who bid two thousand dinars for her; and as often
as the Emir's son bid another dinar, Ala al-Din bid a thousand.
The ugly youth was vexed at this and said, "O broker! who is it
that outbiddeth me for the slave-girl?" Answered the broker, "It
is the Wazir Ja'afar who is minded to buy her for Ala al-Din Abu
al-Shamat." And Ala al-Din continued till he brought her price up
to ten thousand dinars, and her owner was satisfied to sell her
for that sum. Then he took the girl and said to her, "I give thee
thy freedom for the love of Almighty Allah;" and forthwith wrote
his contract of marriage with her and carried her to his house.
Now when the broker returned, after having received his
brokerage, the Emir's son summoned him and said to him, "Where is
the girl?" Quoth he, "She was bought for ten thousand dinars by
Ala al-Din, who hath set her free and married her." At this the
young man was greatly vexed and cast down and, sighing many a
sigh, returned home, sick for love of the damsel; and he threw
himself on his bed and refused food, for love and longing were
sore upon him. Now when his mother saw him in this plight, she
said to him, "Heaven assain thee, O my son! What aileth thee?"
And he answered, "Buy me Jessamine, O my mother." Quoth she,
"When the flower-seller passeth I will buy thee a basketful of
jessamine." Quoth he, "It is not the jessamine one smells, but a
slave-girl named Jessamine, whom my father would not buy for me."
So she said to her husband, "Why and wherefore didest thou not
buy him the girl?" and he replied, "What is fit for the lord is
not fit for the liege and I have no power to take her: no less a
man bought her than Ala Al-Din, Chief of the Sixty." Then the
youth's weakness redoubled upon him, till he gave up sleeping and
eating, and his mother bound her head with the fillets of
mourning. And while in her sadness she sat at home, lamenting
over her son, behold, came in to her an old woman, known as the
mother of Ahmad Kamakim[FN#88] the arch-thief, a knave who would
bore through a middle wall and scale the tallest of the tall and
steal the very kohl off the eye-ball.[FN#89] From his earliest
years he had been given to these malpractices, till they made him
Captain of the Watch, when he stole a sum of money; and the Chief
of Police, coming upon him in the act, carried him to the Caliph,
who bade put him to death on the common execution-ground.[FN#90]
But he implored protection of the Wazir whose intercession the
Caliph never rejected, so he pleaded for him with the Commander
of the Faithful who said, "How canst thou intercede for this pest
of the human race?" Ja'afar answered, "O Commander of the
Faithful, do thou imprison him; whoso built the first jail was a
sage, seeing that a jail is the grave of the living and a joy for
the foe." So the Caliph bade lay him in bilboes and write
thereon, "Appointed to remain here until death and not to be
loosed but on the corpse washer's bench;" and they cast him
fettered into limbo. Now his mother was a frequent visitor to the
house of the Emir Khalid, who was Governor and Chief of Police;
and she used to go in to her son in jail and say to him, "Did I
not warn thee to turn from thy wicked ways?''[FN#91] And he would
always answer her, "Allah decreed this to me; but, O my mother,
when thou visitest the Emir's wife make her intercede for me with
her husband." So when the old woman came into the Lady Khatun,
she found her bound with the fillets of mourning and said to her,
"Wherefore dost thou mourn?" She replied, "For my son Habzalam
Bazazah;" and the old woman exclaimed, "Heaven assain thy son!;
what hath befallen him?" So the mother told her the whole story,
and she said, "What thou say of him who should achieve such a
feat as would save thy son?" Asked the lady, "And what feat wilt
thou do?" Quoth the old woman, "I have a son called Ahmad
Kamakim, the arch-thief, who lieth chained in jail and on his
bilboes is written, 'Appointed to remain till death'; so do thou
don thy richest clothes and trick thee out with thy finest jewels
and present thyself to thy husband with an open face and smiling
mien; and when he seeketh of thee what men seek of women, put him
off and baulk him of his will and say, 'By Allah, 'tis a strange
thing! When a man desireth aught of his wife he dunneth her till
she doeth it; but if a wife desire aught of her husband, he will
not grant it to her.' Then he will say, 'What dost thou want?';
and do thou answer, 'First swear to grant my request.' If he
swear to thee by his head or by Allah, say to him, 'Swear to me
the oath of divorce', and do not yield to him, except he do this.
And whenas he hath sworn to thee the oath of divorce, say to him,
'Thou keepest in prison a man called Ahmad Kamakim, and he hath a
poor old mother, who hath set upon me and who urgeth me in the
matter and who saith, 'Let thy husband intercede for him with the
Caliph, that my son may repent and thou gain heavenly guerdon.'"
And the Lady Khatun replied, "I hear and obey." So when her
husband came into her--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day
and ceased saying her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-third Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the
Governor came in to his wife, who spoke to him as she had been
taught and made him swear the divorce-oath before she would yield
to his wishes. He lay with her that night and, when morning
dawned, after he had made the Ghusl-ablution and prayed the dawn-
prayer, he repaired to the prison and said, "O Ahmad Kamakim, O
thou arch-thief, dost thou repent of thy works?"; whereto he
replied, "I do indeed repent and turn to Allah and say with heart
and tongue, 'I ask pardon of Allah.'" So the Governor took him
out of jail and carried him to the Court (he being still in
bilboes) and, approaching the Caliph, kissed ground before him.
Quoth the King, "O Emir Khalid, what seekest thou?"; whereupon he
brought forward Ahmad Kamakim, shuffling and tripping in his
fetters, and the Caliph said to him, "What! art thou yet alive, O
Kamakim?" He replied, "O Commander of the Faithful, the miserable
are long-lived." Quoth the Caliph to the Emir, "Why hast thou
brought him hither?"; and quoth he, "O Commander of the Faithful,
he hath a poor old mother cut off from the world who hath none
but this son and she hath had recourse to thy slave, imploring
him to intercede with thee to strike off his chains, for he
repenteth of his evil courses; and to make him Captain of the
Watch as before." The Caliph asked Ahmad Kamakim, "Doss thou
repent of thy sins?" "I do indeed repent me to Allah, O Commander
of the Faithful," answered he; whereupon the Caliph called for
the blacksmith and made him strike off his irons on the corpse-
washer's bench.[FN#92] Moreover, he restored him to his former
office and charged him to walk in the ways of godliness and
righteousness. So he kissed the Caliph's hands and, being
invested with the uniform of Captain of the Watch, he went forth,
whilst they made proclamation of his appointment. Now for a long
time he abode in the exercise of his office, till one day his
mother went in to the Governor's wife, who said to her, "Praised
be Allah who hath delivered thy son from prison and restored him
to health and safety! But why dost thou not bid him contrive some
trick to get the girl Jessamine for my son Hahzalam Bazazah?"
"That will I," answered she and, going out from her, repaired to
her son. She found him drunk with wine and said to him, "O my
son, no one caused thy release from jail but the wife of the
Governor, and she would have thee find some means to slay Ala
al-Din Abu al-Shamat and get his slave-girl Jessamine for her son
Habzalam Bazazah." He answered, "That will be the easiest of
things; and I must needs set about it this very night." Now this
was the first night of the new month, and it was the custom of
the Caliph to spend that night with the Lady Zubaydah, for the
setting free of a slave-girl or a Mameluke or something of the
sort. Moreover, on such occasions he used to doff his
royal-habit, together with his rosary and dagger-sword and
royal-signet, and set them all upon a chair in the sitting-
saloon: and he had also a golden lanthorn, adorned with three
jewels strung on a wire of gold, by which he set great store; and
he would commit all these things to the charge of the eunuchry,
whilst he went into the Lady Zubaydah's apartment. So arch-thief
Ahmad Kamakin waited till midnight, when Canopus shone bright,
and all creatures to sleep were dight whilst the Creator veiled
them with the veil of night. Then he took his drawn sword in his
right and his grappling hook in his left and, repairing to the
Caliph's sitting-saloon planted his scaling ladder and cast his
grapnel on to the side of the terrace-roof; then, raising the
trap-door, let himself down into the saloon, where he found the
eunuchs asleep. He drugged them with hemp-fumes;[FN#93] and,
taking the Caliph's dress; dagger, rosary, kerchief, signet-ring
and the lanthorn whereupon were the pearls, returned whence he
came and betook himself to the house of Ala al-Din, who had that
night celebrated his wedding festivities with Jessamine and had
gone in unto her and gotten her with child. So arch-thief Ahmad
Kamakim climbed over into his saloon and, raising one of the
marble slabs from the sunken part of the floor,[FN#94] dug a hole
under it and laid the stolen things therein, all save the
lanthorn, which he kept for himself. Then he plastered down the
marble slab as it before was, and returning whence he came, went
back to his own house, saying, "I will now tackle my drink and
set this lanthorn before me and quaff the cup to its
light."[FN#95] Now as soon as it was dawn of day, the Caliph went
out into the sitting-chamber; and, seeing the eunuchs drugged
with hemp, aroused them. Then he put his hand to the chair and
found neither dress nor signet nor rosary nor dagger-sword nor
kerchief nor lanthorn; whereat he was exceeding wroth and donning
the dress of anger, which was a scarlet suit,[FN#96] sat down in
the Divan. So the Wazir Ja'afar came forward and kissing the
ground before him, said, "Allah avert all evil from the Commander
of the Faithful!" Answered the Caliph, "O Wazir, the evil is
passing great!" Ja'afar asked, "What has happened?" so he told
him what had occurred; and, behold, the Chief of Police appeared
with Ahmad Kamakim the robber at his stirrup, when he found the
Commander of the Faithful sore enraged. As soon as the Caliph saw
him, he said to him, "O Emir Khalid, how goes Baghdad?" And he
answered, "Safe and secure." Cried he "Thou liest!" "How so, O
Prince of True Believers?" asked the Emir. So he told him the
case and added, "I charge thee to bring me back all the stolen
things." Replied the Emir, "O Commander of the Faithful, the
vinegar worm is of and in the vinegar, and no stranger can get at
this place."[FN#97] But the Caliph said, "Except thou bring me
these things, I will put thee to death." Quoth he, "Ere thou slay
me, slay Ahmad Kamakim, for none should know the robber and the
traitor but the Captain of the Watch." Then came forward Ahmad
Kamakim and said to the Caliph, "Accept my intercession for the
Chief of Police, and I will be responsible to thee for the thief
and will track his trail till I find him; but give me two Kazis
and two Assessors for he who did this thing feareth thee not, nor
cloth he fear the Governor nor any other." Answered the Caliph,
"Thou shalt have what thou wantest; but let search be made first
in my palace and then in those of the Wazir and the Chief of the
Sixty." Rejoined Ahmad Kamakim, "Thou sayest well, O Commander of
the Faith ful; belike the man that did this ill deed be one who
hath been reared in the King's household or in that of one of his
officers." Cried the Caliph, "As my head liveth, whosoever shall
have done the deed I will assuredly put him to death, be it mine
own son!" Then Ahmad Kamakim received a written warrant to enter
and perforce search the houses;--And Shahrazad perceived the dawn
of day and ceased to say her permitted say.

When it was the Two Hundred and Sixty-fourth Night,

She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that Ahmad
Kamakim got what he wanted, and received a written warrant to
enter and perforce search the houses; so he fared forth, taking
in his hand a rod[FN#98] made of bronze and copper, iron and
steel, of each three equal-parts. He first searched the palace of
the Caliph, then that of the Wazir Ja'afar; after which he went
the round of the houses of the Chamberlains and the Viceroys till
he came to that of Ala al-Din. Now when the Chief of the Sixty
heard the clamour before his house, he left his wife Jessamine
and went down and, opening the door, found the Master of Police
without in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. So he said, "What is
the matter, O Emir Khalid?" Thereupon the Chief told him the case
and Ala al-Din said, "Enter my house and search it." The Governor
replied, "Pardon, O my lord; thou art a man in whom trust is
reposed and Allah forfend that the trusty turn traitor!" Quoth
Ala al-Din, "There is no help for it but that my house be
searched." So the Chief of Police entered, attended by the Kazi
and his Assessors; whereupon Ahmad Kamakim went straight to the
depressed floor of the saloon and came to the slab, under which
he had buried the stolen goods and let the rod fall upon it with
such violence that the marble broke in sunder and behold
something glittered underneath. Then said he, "Bismillah; in the
name of Allah! Mashallah; whatso Allah willeth! By the blessing
of our coming a hoard hath been hit upon, wait while we go down
into this hiding-place and see what is therein." So the Kazi and
Assessors looked into the hole and finding there the stolen
goods, drew up a statement[FN#99] of how they had discovered them
in Ala al-Din's house, to which they set their seals. Then, they
bade seize upon Ala al-Din and took his turban from his head, and
officially registered all his monies and effects which were in
the mansion. Meanwhile, arch-thief Ahmad Kamakim laid hands on
Jessamine, who was with child by Ala al-Din, and committed her to
his mother, saying, "Deliver her to Khatun, the Governor's lady:"
so the old woman took her and carried her to the wife of the
Master of Police. Now as soon as Habzalam Bazazah saw her, health
and heart returned to him and he arose without stay or delay and
joyed with exceeding joy and would have drawn near her; but she
plucks a dagger from her girdle and said, "Keep off from me, or I
will kill thee and kill myself after." Exclaimed his mother, "O
strumpet, let my son have his will of thee!" But Jessamine
answered "O bitch, by what law is it lawful for a woman to marry
two men; and how shall the dog be admitted to the place of the
lion?" With this, the ugly youth's love-longing redoubled and he
sickened for yearning and unfulfilled desire; and refusing food
returned to his pillow. Then said his mother to her, "O harlot,
how canst thou make me thus to sorrow for my son? Needs must I
punish thee with torture, and as for Ala al-Din, he will
assuredly be hanged." "And I will die for love of him," answered
Jessamine. Then the Governor's wife arose and stripped her of her
jewels and silken raiment and, clothing her in petticoat-trousers
of sack-cloth and a shift of hair-cloth, sent her down into the
kitchen and made her a scullery-wench, saying, "The reward for
thy constancy shall be to break up fire-wood and peel onions and
set fire under the cooking-pots." Quoth she, "I am willing to
suffer all manner of hardships and servitude, but I will not
suffer the sight of thy son." However, Allah inclined the hearts
of the slave-girls to her and they used to do her service in the
kitchen. Such was the case with Jessamine; but as regards Ala
al-Din they carried him, together with the stolen goods, to the
Divan where the Caliph still sat upon his throne. And behold, the
King looked upon his effects and said, "Where did ye find them?"
They replied, "In the very middle of the house belonging to Ala
al-Din Abu al-Shamat;" whereat the Caliph was filled with wrath
and took the things, but found not the lanthorn among them and
said, "O Ala al-Din, where is the lanthorn?" He answered "I stole
it not, I know naught of it; I never saw it; I can give no
information about it!" Said the Caliph, "O traitor, how cometh it
that I brought thee near unto me and thou hast cast me out afar,
and I trusted in thee and thou betrayest me?" And he commanded to
hang him. So the Chief of Police took him and went down with him
into the city, whilst the crier preceded them proclaiming aloud
and saying, "This is the reward and the least of the reward he
shall receive who doth treason against the Caliphs of True
Belief!" And the folk flocked to the place where the gallows
stood. Thus far concerning him; but as regards Ahmad al-Danaf,
Ala al-Din's adopted father, he was sitting making merry with his
followers in a garden, and carousing and pleasuring when lo! in
came one of the water-carriers of the Divan and, kissing the hand
of Ahmad al-Danaf, said to him, "O Captain Ahmad, O Danaf! thou
sittest at thine ease with water flowing at thy feet,[FN#100] and
thou knowest not what hath happened." Asked Ahmad, "What is it?"
and the other answered, "They have gone down to the gallows with
thy son Ala al-Din, adopted by a covenant before Allah!" Quoth
Ahmad, "What is the remedy here, O Hasan Shuuman, and what sayst
thou of this?" He replied, "Assuredly Ala al-Din is innocent and
this blame hath come to him from some one enemy."[FN#101] Quoth
Ahmad, "What counsellest thou?" and Hasan said, "We must rescue
him, Inshallah!" Then he went to the jail and said to the gaolor,
"Give us some one who deserveth death." So he gave him one that
was likest of men to Ala al-Din Abu al-Shamat; and they covered
his head and carried him to the place of execution between Ahmad
al-Danaf and Ali al-Zaybak of Cairo.[FN#102] Now they had brought
Ala al-Din to the gibbet, to hang him, but Ahmad al-Danaf came
forward and set his foot on that of the hangman, who said, "Give
me room to do my duty." He replied, "O accursed, take this man
and hang him in Ala al-Din's stead; for he is innocent and we
will ransom him with this fellow, even as Abraham ransomed
Ishmael with the ram."[FN#103] So the hangman seized the man and
hanged him in lieu of Ala al-Din; whereupon Ahmad and Ali took
Ala al-Din and carried him to Ahmad's quarters and, when there,
Ala al-Din turned to him and said, "O my sire and chief, Allah
requite thee with the best of good!" Quoth he, "O Ala al-Din"--
And Shahrazed perceived the dawn of day and ceased saying her
permitted say.

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